Outlander star Richard Rankin loves all the old characters coming back for season 7

The second half of the seventh season of Outlander is off and running, and surprises abound. While Jamie and Claire Fraser (Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe) return to Jamie's native Scotland, their son-in-law Roger (Richard Rankin) has a time-traveling kidnapping to solve: his son Jemmy (Blake Johnston-Miller) has been taken into the past, so Roger and ancestor Buck (Diarmaid Murtagh) use the standing stones at Craigh Na Dun to travel back in time in pursuit...but they somehow overshoot their mark, ending up about 20 years earlier than they planned. Jamie's father Brian Fraser (Andrew Whipp) is still running Lallybroch, with a younger version of Jamie's sister Jenny (Kristin Atherton) helping keep the household.

“I think it’s just shock after shock after shock, and I think all of these things helped to develop a very sort of interesting and refreshing plot line for Buck and Roger,” Rankin told TV Insider. “The stuff with Brian and Jenny is good because I think the fans are going to really like these callbacks because they’re all obviously very familiar with these characters. And I think to see them back in that context… that’ll be quite a delight for the fans to see.”

Rankin particularly enjoyed the return of Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek), another character from the show's past. This plotline is giving the writers all kinds of excuses to bring back old favorites. For Murtagh's part, he enjoyed how the show faked out viewers. “I think the way it’s done overall, how the episodes are edited, it’s so much fun. A door will knock, and we think we know who’s going to answer it and all of a sudden the axis has spun an entirely different way,” he said.

Outlander may have an ulterior motive in bringing back these characters

It's undoubtedly fun for fans to see these characters in action again, but I can't help but wonder if Outlander is up to something with this storyline. Next year, they're going to premiere a new spinoff show called Blood of My Blood, a which will chart the romances between Jamie's parents as well as Claire's. Is reintroducing Jamie's dad Brian like this on the mainline show a way to re-familiarize fans with the character before he becomes one of the principle players in the new prequel?

Also, it's fun to reacquaint fans with these characters as the show heads towards an ending; after the second half of season 7 is done, fans will endure one more Droughtlander (broken up by Blood of My Blood) before season 8 closes the show for good. Until then, new episodes drop on Fridays on Starz.

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